I usually just write about my thoughts and opinions, or include pictures and videos I find interesting.  I think it’s time for a little story – an anecdote from my childhood.  After all, stories can be a great thing for entertainment.

When I was about 12 (or maybe I was already 13 by then), I was set to return to China for the summer.  It was my first time flying alone, but I loved exploring things on my own and was perfectly happy to make the trip without supervision.  I was living in New York at the time and my parents took me to LaGuardia Airport, got me checked in, and sent me on my way.  Well, after waiting with me until the plane actually arrived, that is.  You see, it was delayed (as planes quite often are).

So when it was finally time, I got on my flight to O’Hare International Airport in Chicago.  When we landed there, I quickly exited the plane to rush to the gate of my connecting flight.  When I arrived there, I was happy to see they were still boarding.  Most people had already gone on, so there wasn’t much of a line left.  When I got to the front, the steward took my ticket and stopped just as he was about to rip off the stub for me.

“You aren’t going to Amsterdam, are you?” he questioned.

I paused.  “No…” I replied, confused.  “I’m going to Beijing.”

“Well,” he said, “this isn’t your flight.  That one has already taken off.”

Whaaaaat?!  I hadn’t noticed the sign saying this flight was headed to Amsterdam.  And I was baffled that I was so late that not only had my flight packed up and gone, the next flight was nearly ready to back out of the gate!  Oh no.  Not good news.  The steward directed me to a customer service area where I could be helped and I trekked over, for the first time unsure of my travels.  When I arrived, I found that a lot of others on my flight had come across the very same issue and were all standing in line to work it out with the people at the counter.  Frantic, I called home to talk to my parents about the disaster.

I don’t recall much of the conversation, except that they told me to remain calm and go talk to the people at the counter, then let them know what was going on.  I obediently went to stand in line and was told that the next flight out was the following day.  At this point, realizing I was a minor traveling alone, the airline sent a representative to be my escort.  They planned out the rest of my trip and called my parents, informing them of my new itinerary.  Now I was to stay the night at an airport hotel and take a flight to Tokyo, then transfer to a flight to China.  Slight detour, but that was the next available flight so there wasn’t much of a choice.

The airline stewardess sent to watch over me led me off to a room hidden away, where a whole room full of kids sat around playing with a variety of toys!  It was an awesome game room and I quickly settled in to play a Yoshi video game.  I’ve never owned a gaming system, so it was a joy to be able to play for hours.  For lunch, I was taken out to get some food at one of the food court type areas.  The lady had a voucher of some sort for me to use.  For the rest of the day I played games until dinnertime, when I was taken out again to eat.  Throughout the day, kids had come and gone as they waited for their flights.

By the end of the night, it was just me and four teenage boys left.  We were shuttled over to the Four Points hotel and taken to our rooms.  The guys each shared with one other boy and occupied two rooms.  Being the only girl, I was given a suite all to myself!  I remember it was so big I could have done cartwheels all around the place.  Now that was some luxury!  I happily got under the covers and watched some late night shows, not really caring about TV but wanting to do something.  Outside my door, a gentleman sat on a chair all night, guarding my door and watching those of the boys across the hall.  I’m sure he got a break from a colleague, but I was too busy resting inside to know.

The next morning, we all got up and headed back to the airport.  I stayed in the game room until it was time to go and by that time I’d made a friend with a Korean girl who was going to be on the same flight as me from Chicago to Tokyo, after which she would to to Seoul and I would go to Beijing.  We boarded our flight, another delayed one, and sat together for the trip.  Arriving at Narita International, we found that we’d missed our connections.  We were passed off to Japanese airport officials, who got us flights for the next morning.  With our parents informed of the new development, we were taken to a back room where the airport staff hung out.

All I remember of that place was a dingy feel with poor lighting, guys lounging around watching an odd game show that I couldn’t understand, and the air filled with smoke.  Hating cigarette smoke, I had a difficult time breathing as the guys puffed away.  It was sort of awkward, but late in the night already, so we didn’t have to stay long.  My friend and I were taken to an airport hotel, where we shared a room.  I remember looking out at the peephole to find a very cute guy sitting in front of our door, guarding us for the night.  We girls giggled over our littles crushes and chatted late into the night.

Two days after my initial departure, I finally got on a flight to Beijing.  My flight buddy had gone off to her flight to Seoul and I never saw her again.  Meanwhile, I was babysat until mine came.  I made it to Beijing after many hiccups, but there was one more small one to get through – the train from Beijing to my hometown of Shenyang was delayed!  I can’t remember who got me, but we waited about an hour for a train and by this time it was nearly 1 in the morning.  Somewhere here the details get fuzzy, since it used to take 12 hours to get between those cities, but I distinctly remember arriving at my grandmother’s door right around 4 AM.  The poor woman had been waiting up for me, as good grandmothers are apt to do.  🙂

I’m not sure if I’m imagining it, but perhaps – just perhaps, I had taken a flight from Beijing to Shenyang and then gotten driven back by 4.  It does make sense, but I can’t quite remember.  One day, I will rifle through my journal entries to confirm the details.  I hope I wrote all of it down.  And so there you go, a most arduous journey that you could attribute to the domino effect, with pieces falling down and causing the next one to fall down too.  Or you could blame Murphy’s law, where anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.  Not to say that things going wrong can’t be a beautiful thing!  In fact, for me it really was quite a wonderful experience!  I had a lot of fun and got to enjoy the type of adventure not many pre-teens can ever say they’ve had.